Tag : job market

I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you over what your clothing was saying!

Initial impressions are strong and lasting.  It has been said that we will form our opinion of someone within the first 5 minutes of meeting them.  Of course, since we cannot truly begin to “know” another person in only 5 minutes it only stands to reason that our first opinion will be based mostly on what we can readily observe.   

Let’s apply this information to your next job interview.  An interviewer’s first, and most conscious, observation is going to be your attire and grooming.  Both of those factors create a very strong first impression. Unfortunately it is one of life’s little ironies that bad impressions will tend to make a bigger impact and last longer than do good impressions.   

 

This is why you need to get it right.  If you want to have a successful interview and get hired it is essential that you be remembered for what you had to say rather than for what you were wearing. 

Do not make these 3 mistakes: 

  1. 2001 is calling and wants their outfit back.  You really should update your interview wardrobe more often that you vote in a presidential election.  Yes, even the “classic” looks change over time.  Have you been holding on to an old suit because you think it will come back in style? Oh it will, but those sneaky designers will change it just enough that everything you saved will now look old rather than retro cool. 
  2. It’s never a good idea to look too trendy during your interview either.  Here is another tip – if you look in the mirror and think “oh, that’s really cute!” then don’t wear it.  Adults shouldn’t look “cute”. When you interview you want to appear to be professional not juvenile.  Stay away from loud colors, flashy shoes, plunging necklines and pretty much anything else that could do double duty on a Saturday night at your favorite nightclub.   
  3. Remember, it’s an interview and not a date.  Keep your jewelry simple, skip the perfume and tone down your makeup.  I recently interviewed a perfectly nicely dressed and otherwise very mature candidate, that is, except for the white sparkly eye shadow she was wearing.  I couldn’t stop looking at it!  What was she thinking? Well, I know what I was thinking – here is somebody with poor judgment

5 Steps for an Effective New Grad NP Job Search

Hello New Grads!

Abe Lincoln once advised “If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I would spend 7 sharpening my axe”.


Don’t get worried, I don’t actually want you to chop anything down! My point is that I want you to be well prepared before you begin your NP job search.

In my last column for Advance for NPs & PAs I outlined 5 essential steps to include in your job search plan.

In my column you will find advice on

  • Applying too soon (yes, you can apply too soon)
  • Finding and choosing the proper references
  • How to sell yourself and your skills
  • Handling the dreaded “strength and weakness” interview question.

Click here to read more

Successful Job Searching after 60

Many of my posts are aimed at the New Graduate NP or PA but recently I had a question from a reader who was concerned about finding a new job after 60.

Dear Career Coach: I am wondering if you have any thoughts or advice about finding a job after age 60. I have been in practice for about 18 years. I am finding it rather scary to quit my job because I am worried about whether I will really be able to get another job. What do you think?

Dear Mature Job Seeker: Employers are looking for two main characteristics when they hire an employee. The first characteristic is your skills and expertise. After 18 years in practice I think we can safely say you should have no problem meeting that standard. But having experience isn’t enough, because the second thing most employers are looking for is employees who will stay with them for the long term. We all know that technically (and legally) an employer is not allowed to factor your age into their hiring decision, but I think we would both be kidding ourselves if we think that an employer is eager to hire someone who is within shouting distance of their retirement. The truth of the matter is that hiring a clinician is expensive and time consuming, and employers don’t want to have to go through the hiring process every couple of years – especially during tough economic times.

One option you may want to consider is doing a temporary or locum tenens assignment. You might find that short-term assignments are a nice fit with where you are in your career journey. This is the one setting where long-term commitments are not required or expected. Assignments can range anywhere from a few weeks to a year in length. When I was recruiting I filled many of my temp positions with “mature” clinicians who liked to work temp positions because they enjoyed the freedom and the variety. And did I mention the pay? Temp jobs usually pay very well. If you are willing to travel the opportunities are even greater.

Teaching is another idea you might want to entertain. Many colleges and universities employ folks in our profession in an “adjunct” type position to work with nursing or other healthcare students. They may have a need for teaching or assisting with specific courses or for supervising the students in their clinical rotations.

Above all, no matter what your age, I never advise that you quit your current job until you have a new job secured

Click here to read my original post and comments. 
Seems I stirred up a bit of controversy!

New Grad Class of 2013 – this blog is for YOU

Graduation is exciting but also a little stressful. New grads (or maybe I should call them “soon-to-be-grads”) spend almost as much of their last semester worrying about getting their first job as they do studying.

Well, I personally have never seen any value to worry. It’s far better to spend your time preparing instead of worrying.  And luckily for new grads there is some good advice out there.

Advance for NPs and PAs puts out a great “Guide for NP & PA New Grads” every year and it is chock full of both practical and valuable advice.

This year 2013 the guide has gone digital and you will find 4 extremely helpful articles.

The first (which just happens to be written by me!) is Salary Tips for the New Grad.  I discuss realistic salary expectations as well as the proper time to negotiate.  You might be surprised at what I have to say.  Read more

There is also a nice article on Building a Better Resume. This piece includes some nice tips on social media, keywords and paper resumes.  As your trusted NP Career Coach I can say without reservation that the advice is spot on and will help you be more successful in landing that job interview.

Speaking of interviews, did you know that the new trend is to do your interview via Skype?  Check out the handy tips in Get Psyched to Skype.  You will be glad you did.

And finally, read Networking Know-How and find out how to make the most out of your networking.

Access the entire guide HERE 

 

HAPPY GRADUATION CLASS OF 2013!

 

Survey says: 2012 was a Good Year!

The “2012 Advanced Practice Clinician Compensation and Pay Practices Survey Report” a survey conducted by Sullivan, Cotter and Associates indicates that 2012 was a good year to be an NP or PA.

Key findings include:

NPs and PA job openings:

  • A 17% increase in the number of Advanced Practice Clinicians positions was reported by 63% of the respondents
  • In addition half the respondents plan to increase the number of NPs and PAs in their organizations by 15% during the coming year

NP and PA salaries:

  • 62% indicated that NP and PA salaries increased by an average of 3.9% over the past year.
  • At least half revealed they are planning salary increases of an average of 3.1% in 2013 for their Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants.

Reasons cited for the trends:

  • Team based care driving the demand for more NPs and PAs
  • MD shortage
  • Recent national trends to ensure all medical professions can work at the top of their practice level and training.

While this is only one study it does confirm that the market is moving in a positive direction.  This doesn’t mean we can relax just yet though, my contacts tell me that open positions are still attracting large numbers of applicants.

2012 Salary updates

This time of year always bring a new batch of PA and NP salary survey information.  I like to review the various surveys to compare if they match up with the trends I observe.  Sometimes they do, and sometime they don’t .

As always, a few words of caution about salary surveys.  First, they keep in mind the participants are self-selected which may skew the results.  In my experience those doing well are more eager to fill out salary surveys while those experiencing less favorable compensation tend not to want to talk as much.

In a volatile or rapidly changing employment landscape a salary survey can often lag behind current trends.  This has been especially true for PA and NP jobs over the last previous years, however, this past year has seen some increasing stabilization which make recent surveys more reliable.

Here is a quick summary of the most recent salary survey from Clinical Advisor along with my comments:

For an NP in family practice the yearly pay averages in the mid 80K range  Womens health and pediatric NPs come in about 10K lower.  Specialties, such as geriatrics or heme/onc will bring in a yearly salary in the 90K bracket.

My take: This is not a surprise to any of us in the recruiting biz.  For those certified in womens health and peds wages and jobs have been in decline for years. What this survey doesn’t say is how the respondents for these categories are certified.  An FNP working in these areas will earn more than those certified as peds or WH.

PAs earn about 10K more a year than NPs. The exception is in family practice where they come out only slightly ahead of NPs in pay.

My take: The other categories listed are specialty practice areas.  No surprise they earn more. Specialty practices bring in more revenue so it logically follows that they will pay more too. PAs also still dominate in specialty practices.  They tend to be more open to specializing than NPs although that is beginning to change too.

The survey also compares experience.  In both categories experience brings more pay but for PAs the increase continues over their careers while the earnings of NPs level off after 5 years.

If you want to check out the entire survey, which includes further breakdowns by geographic region, it can be found here.

2011 Market “Forecast”

January is the traditional time each year when we look back at the past year and then try to predict what will be the trends for the coming year. Well, this year is no different!
Last month I was interviewed by Jen Ford at ADVANCE for NP/PA’s regarding my thoughts on what’s in store for NP’s and PA’s in 2011. She wrote a great article which covers several topics that are of interest to all Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants regardless of whether or not they are job hunting. We discussed the job market, temporary positions, salaries as well as upcoming trends mixed in with a few thoughts for this years new grads.
I highly recommend that you check out the article “A Changing Landscape – The Job Outlook for NP’s and PA’s. You won’t be sorry 🙂

New year’s resolution

Hello 2011!!

My new year’s resolution is to do more blogging! I have alot of great plans of where to take this blog and website so I’m going to be doing more talking about the NP/PA market, salaries and of course job searching. And due to popular demand I will be adding some additional “new grad” resources.

What’s on my mind today? I just read an article about how NP pay and jobs are now outpacing that of the family practice physician. The author wrote in the article about the current market for NP jobs as if all we would need to do is walk out our front door and there will be clinics lined up waving fistfulls of money at us to work for them. They went on to say that demand for NP’s is so great that the market has been able to “absorb a tidal wave of new NP’s”. They cite the physician shortgage as the cause.

Yes it’s true the market does seem to be opening up but we are still far from being fully employed. What IS beginning to happen is that healthcare organizations are reviewing their budgets for the upcoming year and have decided that hiring advanced practice clinicians does make economic sense. (hmm, where have I heard that before…?)

Things are looking up folks. Of course you still need a good resume so be sure to check out my resume tip sheet!

Finding a job fast

Economic conditions have clinicians considering alternative NP and PA job opportunities.

This week I recieved a question from a reader. Her spouse is out of work and she needs to get to work fast. She was wondering if a short term or Locum Tenens NP job could be the answer to her situation.

Temporary or locum tenens assignments are growing in popularity and as usual I have some advice to help you decide if this is an option for you.

To read my answer check out my latest post over at “Advance for NP/PA’s”